Undergraduate Students' Misconceptions About Protein Structure and Function Stem From Challenges in Visuospatial Reasoning

Abstract

Understanding the structure and function of proteins is crucial for students as it provides fundamental insights into one of the central building blocks of life. Yet, undergraduate students struggle to make sense of proteins and apply knowledge about why structure affects function. Here, we expand on an existing typology of common protein misconceptions (Robic, 2010). We recruited participants from a large, lecture-based non-major biochemistry course to participate in a series of assessments that allowed us to qualitatively examine their responses. We found that the common misconceptions included: protein stability based on orientation, confusions about the dynamic properties of proteins, and protein structure related to function. We surmise that all three of these newly reported, nuanced misconceptions are the product of difficulties with visuospatial reasoning.